Cash-strapped newlyweds to get new moped thanks to community generosity

Adam Lawson Gazette staff GazetteLawson

Friday

Aug 31, 2018 at 12:12 PMAug 31, 2018 at 12:12 PM

Caleb Smith finally heard good news this week.

The cash-strapped newlywed, whose moped was stolen out of a Walmart parking lot while he was at work last week, will soon be renewed with a vehicle thanks to support from a community that read about his situation in The Gaston Gazette.

Smith raised $1,200 in two days through a GoFundMe page he started in hopes of raising money to get another vehicle so he could drive himself and his wife to work and on everyday errands. But a phone call he received Wednesday shocked him to his core.

Ian Bradshaw, a 32-year-old apartment maintenance worker, agreed to give him the moped he owns and is no longer using.

"It really opened up my eyes and showed me that people are decent," Smith said. "They understand that people are understanding. It just blew my mind that that happened. But I'm so glad it did."

Bradshaw saw similarities in Smith's story to his own moped ownership experience. Smith owned his moped barely a month when two thieves pulled a truck into the Walmart at 223 N. Myrtle School Road, loaded the vehicle and left.

Bradshaw inherited his moped after his mother won it in a raffle in 2015. But his too disappeared after someone swiped it from his front yard. He was reunited with it once police pulled over the culprit.